With what has been described as the softest of voices, poet Mxolisi Nyezwa created one of the biggest stirs at this year’s Poetry Africa festival in Durban.
Nyezwa, who was born in 1967 in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, where he still lives, launched his second collection of poems at the festival, a volume called New Country. His readings drew enthusiastic acclaim – and great curiosity from those unfamiliar with his work, including Your Correspondent.
I managed to wrest three poems from Nyezwa’s publisher, and confess to being quite taken aback by the force of their imagery, which seems out of proportion to the spare, succulent lines that generate them:
* * * * * * * *
for days i looked for my poems
for days i looked for my poems in the streets,
and since i could not find them,
light fell like a flower on the lonely square.
the light sounded the drum of a thud.
beauty came grovelling forward
begging,
and children went for days
without food.
*
city
i have lived to discover a city, an open road,
a bucket of milk, and two gentle doves.
i have discovered in myself
two frightened birds with miles of dirt road to fly.
in the forest hills spiders and black dogs clamoured.
in the corpses of yellow flowers
a rainbow spun across a darkened sky.
i lived in a street where girls with dark eyes sang,
birds with their wings welcomed a harsh rain.
*
before the child destroys the world
i have a few things to say
before the child rises like the morning
and destroys the world
before the bread rises from the table
and the axe falls to the ground –
bread that rises from the ashes
into your grave.
days now appear slanted like the sun
the rain begins from your body
a new prohibition begins –
your body clings to the earth
like fire over the burning sky.
* * * * * * * *
For those who want a glimpse into Nyezwa’s first collection, Song Trials (Gecko, 2000), visit the page dedicated to him at Poetry International.
Nyezwa is editor of the multi-lingual journal Kotaz – but I couldn’t track it down online. Brownie points to anyone who can.
Book Details
Please register or log in to comment
